Starting with Naruto, I'll become stronger through my own efforts.

Its daybreak.

Danzo Shimura left Konoha through a secret passage opened by Root, embarking on a long and uncertain path as a rogue ninja.

In the woods 100 kilometers away from Konoha Village, two Uchiha were also on the run.

The blood and tears on Itachi's face had been wiped away. He walked quickly forward with a cold expression and an aura of coldness emanating from his body.

This 13-year-old Mangekyou Sharingan ninja had a dazed look in his eyes and walked quickly but unsteadily, clearly unaware of his destination.

Obito Uchiha would appear and disappear intermittently, occasionally muttering something that no one could hear.

He seems to have shed the burden of being a powerful figure like Madara Uchiha, transforming into a relaxed version of Tobi. Clearly, he has fallen into a mental turmoil after encountering an unsolvable problem.

Just as they emerged from the woods and entered a plain, the two Uchiha simultaneously sensed something and abruptly looked up, glancing around.

Before they could react further, a blurry figure swept past them, and both Obito Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha were simultaneously slashed with long horizontal wounds.

The wounds on Itachi's body were relatively small, but there was a lot more blood and debris splattered out. Among the debris was a small bottle containing a three-tomoe eye.

When Xia Zuo, Uchiha Itachi, and Uchiha Obito saw the bottle, they were all stunned, and then realized that it was the Mangekyou Sharingan.

Ultimately, it was Xia Zuo, who activated Swift Release, who moved the fastest. Before the two Uchiha could even raise their hands, he had already passed by them again, creating two new wounds on them, and calmly taking the small bottle.

Xia Zuo held up the small bottle and examined it against the rising sun. Confirming that it contained surprising potential, he couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"Uchiha Itachi, I didn't expect you to carry Shisui's eye with you. Why don't you just put it in a crow's eye socket?"

Blood loss had turned Itachi Uchiha pale, but he couldn't hide his shock: "How did you know I planned to hide my eyes in the crow's eye sockets?"

Xia Zuo sneered, "Your brain is smart enough to come up with the idea of ​​hiding water droplets in the ocean, but with your laughably poor knowledge, the only ocean you can think of is the flock of crows raised by the Uchiha clan."

"Furthermore, with your medical ninjutsu skills, you can only simply hide it inside a crow's eye socket to maintain its eye's vitality for a long time."

"But I never expected you would carry it with you all this time. It has saved me a lot of time."

Uchiha Itachi clutched his wound and growled, "Give it back to me!"

Xia Zuo laughed and asked in return, "Give it back to you? These are Uchiha Shisui's eyes. Since the original owner is still alive, of course it should be returned to him."

"However, what I'm going to take from you isn't just Shisui's eyes, but also your life!"

With a loud bang, Xia Zuo, who had become intangible and disappeared, was thrown off the surface of Susanoo, and shattered ninja sword fragments flew everywhere.

The dynamic vision of the Mangekyou Sharingan was indeed strong enough that Itachi Uchiha could barely see Sasuke's sprint trajectory.

Although his body couldn't keep up with the speed at all, making it impossible for him to dodge or attack, he still managed to activate Susanoo and block Xia Zuo's ninja sword attack.

After blocking the attack, Itachi Uchiha did not relax. Instead, he anxiously cried for help: "Think of something quickly, my Susanoo can't hold out for much longer."

On the other side, Obito Uchiha quickly approached, preparing to pull him back into the Kamui dimension before retreating swiftly.

Obito was a little intimidated by Xia Zuo, a ninja with incredible speed.

He didn't intend to fight this guy head-on until he figured out how to counter the door-blocking tactic.

However, what Obito didn't know was that the biggest advantage of the speed ninja was the initiative, especially the decision of whether to fight or not, which was firmly in the hands of Xia Zuo.

As Obito reached out to grab Itachi, Xia Zuo's hand also landed on Obito's shoulder.

[Wood Release: Thorn Piercing Technique]

This is a more potent version of the Wood Splinter Technique. Wood spikes are generated directly within Obito's body, and even the chakra consumed is Wood Release chakra from within Obito's body.

The ninjutsu was extremely effective, far exceeding Xia Zuo's expectations, and it also broke free from his control.

In the blink of an eye, Obito transformed into half a large tree, its branches and leaves flourishing, its roots firmly planted at the entrance to Kamui, leaving it unable to move forward or backward.

This is truly an unexpected delight.

Xia Zuo deactivated his Swift Escape state, clenched his fists, and shattered Obito's mask with a single punch, revealing half of his face, which was covered in wrinkles and as pale as paper.

Xia Zuo showed neither surprise nor hesitation, unleashing his Summer Eight Punches and relentlessly punching Obito's face, fully utilizing the power shared by Pirate Xia Zuo to shatter his facial bones and leave him a bloody mess.

He even cracked the skull on his forehead.

Xia Zuo wanted to let Obito know before he went into Hollowfication that Madara Uchiha wasn't someone anyone could impersonate, and that he should just stick to Hollowfication and show his face from now on.

In the end, Itachi Uchiha gritted his teeth and activated the second stage of Susanoo, forcibly expelling Sasuke from the wrecked state, thus saving Obito Uchiha.

After being thrown back, Xia Zuo clapped his hands in mid-air, unleashing a torrent of chakra from his entire body and activating his most powerful Wood Release technique to date.

[Wood Release: Advent of the Tree World]

The next second, countless new green shoots emerged from the ground, and the sprouts grew rapidly and vigorously at a speed visible to the naked eye.

At the same time, the trees in the nearby woods suddenly expanded, transforming into giant trees as thick as ten people could hug.

The giant tree twisted and trembled, its trunk spreading from all directions toward the red Susanoo.

The thick, massive tree roots and branches spread out like a fishing net, covering Susanoo. The even thicker tree trunks, like the flexible tentacles of ancient gods, wrapped Susanoo layer by layer, completely binding it into a dumpling.

Xia Zuo stood on the ground, his hands clasped together, and his chakra exploded out of his body, surging towards the giant tree trunk rice dumpling.

[Wood Release: Tree Coffin Strangulation]

Driven by Wood Release chakra, the tree trunk twisted and contracted wildly, attempting to strangle Itachi Uchiha in one fell swoop.

As for Obito Uchiha, Xia Zuo has given up hope this time.

Despite having his skull fractured and his skin completely peeled off, Obito's face miraculously recovered almost completely in just a few seconds before his vision was obscured by Wood Release, and even his nose regained its straightness.

The self-healing ability granted to him by the White Zetsu half-body is too abnormal, no less than that of the legendary Hashirama Senju.

But no matter what, we must try to save one person's life.

Xia Zuo unleashed his full power of chakra, shattering the tree trunk that would take ten people to encircle, and gradually compressing Susanoo.

Suddenly the tree trunk collapsed inward, as if it were a soda can that had been imploded in a vacuum.

Itachi Uchiha's Susanoo was crushed.

Xia Zuo waited a few seconds to confirm that a large amount of Yin Release chakra was leaking out from the cracks in the wood before manipulating the broken tree trunk to scatter.

The center of the Susanoo's implosion contained flesh and bone fragments.

Unfortunately, there was very little flesh and blood; at most, it was the remnant of half an arm that had been crushed.

Xia Zuo was in a terrible mood. He had worked hard all night, only to find that he had only Uchiha Itachi's hand left.

No, I must kill someone today!

He turned his head and looked in the direction of Konoha Village.

Danzo Shimura!

I'll risk my life to help this old man vent his anger!